Students do not need to miss the opportunity to see “Speech and Debate” running at the Clarance Brown Theatre now until April 3.
“Speech and Debate” is one of the funniest plays put on at the Clarence Brown this year and keeps the audience laughing the entire time.
The set is a school room, with two chairs and lockers, and there are only four actors in the play. In addition to very few props and a small cast, “Speech and Debate” is showing in the Lab Theatre of the Clarence Brown, which adds to the overall intimacy of the play and is an amazing experience for the audience to feel like they are really involved.
The play opens up with an openly gay eighteen year old, Howie (Tyler Padgett, junior in theatre), at his computer chatting it up with men on the Internet. He agrees to meet the man from the chat room at a nearby park. He then finds out that the man he agreed to meet is his drama teacher, Mr. Healy. This scene really draws the audience in because they are able to see the words that Howie and the teacher are writing because they are projected on a screen in the background, making the audience feel included and embedded in the story.
Then, the story unfolds to introduce Solomon (Kevin Bohleber, sophomore in theatre), a sixteen-year-old teenage journalist who is trying to uncover the town mayor’s obsession with young men and how Republicans are almost always involved in sex scandals, even branching out to include Mr. Healy, who Solomon believes has had relationships with young men. However, his idea is shot down by his journalism teacher (Amy Bubbard) because it’s too controversial.
The audience then meets avid blogger and “punk/grunge” girl, Diwata (Tara Wells, junior in theatre). Diwata is doing a video blog while drinking beer and talking about how much she hates the drama teacher, Mr. Healy, for not casting her as leads in the school plays and for his overall unpleasant demeanor. These teenagers’ connections to their drama teacher brings them all together, and they ultimately form a “Speech and Debate,” despite Howie and Solomon’s hesitation.
These teenagers grow up on screen as they deal with divisive issues like homosexuality and abortion. However, even though there is a serious aspect to this play, it is overall extremely funny and ridiculous. From a scene of dancing to “Freedom” by George Michael in nothing but body stockings to a song from Puritan Mary Warren to a gay, teenage Abe Lincoln telling him to not come out of the closet to his parents, this play will keep the audience saying “That was awesome!”
The cast is amazing, too. This play was acted out by all undergraduates, besides guest actor Amy Hubbard. Bohleber shines in this play, and it is certain that he has quite the career ahead of him. Wells (Diwata) is charming, witty, crazy and beautiful and puts on an amazing performance. Not to mention the hilariousness of Padgett, whose facial expressions and body language make his character who he is.
UT students are loving this play already.
“This play was very entertaining, and I thought the storyline of the play and how it was presented was very unique, and I would definitely recommend it to others,” Erin Simpson, sophomore in the Pre-Professional Program stated.
“Speech and Debate” is guaranteed to give its audience an hour and a half of pure enjoyment.
